Archive for the ‘Somerville’ category

While walking around Somerville yesterday, I made a few observations unrelated to Tropical Storm Irene. Like that crews have finally started working on 270 Cedar St. (check out an article I wrote about the property a few months ago):

Yesterday Irene struck Somerville, Massachusetts and the rest of New England. Although it was just a tropical storm (not a hurricane as everyone predicted), it still caused a fair amount of damage. Here are some pictures I took in Somerville during the late afternoon.

A damaged car on Murdock Street

A snapped tree on Broadway (near Trum Field)

A fallen tree on Hall Avenue

We didn’t lose power at our Cedar Street apartment, but folks in Magoun Square did. Inside Olde Magoun’s Saloon staff were sitting in the dark, and across Medford Street (around Status Boutique, Marcelino’s Exotic Birds and Churrasco) a generator was running.

This past weekend Royal White Cleaners, thetroubled dry cleaning business on Somerville’s Cedar Street, replaced an outdated “laundromat” sign with one for its tailoring service. You can access this part of the business through the building’s main door.

Royal White Cleaners' main door

The company’s self-service laundromat has been closed since at least August (when I moved to Cedar Street). This signage improvement might be one indication the company’s seriously trying to improve its finances. According to the Somerville Journal, Royal White Cleaners owes the city over $240,000 in unpaid taxes; as a result, the city recently seized the property.

Royal White Cleaners can only reclaim the property if it repays its debts within a year, the article states.